HR Knowledge and Skill at Strategic Level

Selecting Additional Branch Location of Everest Times: A Case Study

Everest Times (ET), established in 2008, is one of the newspaper publishing businesses in Farnborough. It has a branch already in Kathmandu, Nepal and has decided to open three more branches globally by 2012. Extension of business in todays economic downturn is more challenging. The success of the business depends upon the analysis of internal and external factors, proper planning and implementation. Therefore, careful consideration should be given while selecting countries. Important aspects of the business such as market, profit analysis (investment, income and cost), transport facilities, channels of distribution, demographic changes, ethical issues, legal system, human resources (skills, knowledge and experience) must be pre-examined. I have been chosen to carryout the task from the board of directors meeting. To make an appropriate decision, I have appointed people from different background with different skills, knowledge and behaviours bearing in mind De Bonos Six Thinking Hats (De Bono, 1999). I have used people of different types of thinking by encouraging to collect and analyse data, layout of the office, investigating and analysing possible consequences, identifying marketing mixes and financial projection, etc. PESTEL, an effective tool to make strategic decision (CIPD, 2010), has been used to analyse organisations external environment. PESTEL is an acronym of political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal factors. Small change on any of these factors may have considerable impact on the business (Carruthers, 2009). Using skills, knowledge and behaviour of people within the team, data required for PESTEL analysis were collected from Hong Kong, Australia and India. Collected information was analysed by using the expertise of the team.

After analysing PESTEL, SWOT analysis was employed. SWOT, acronym of strength, weakness, opportunities and threats, is a powerful tool to investigate internal as well as external factors that affect the business (CIPD, 2011). In a group, we discussed and listed strengths and weaknesses of ET to start the business in respective countries. Similarly, possible opportunities were discussed to open search and threats were analysed to reduce their possible impact on business. As a final tool, to select the country, we have employed Michael Porters (Porter, 2004) five forces analysis. Taking PESTEL and SWOT analysis into consideration, five forces threats of new entrants, threats of business with substitute products, buyers bargaining power, suppliers bargaining power and competitive rivalry were discussed and analysed in detail for each of the selected countries. To analyse these competitive factors, people with expertise on thinking, analysing and behaving were used. Decision has been made using PESTEL, SWOT and Porters Five Forces to scan and seek business extension. Giving particular attention to the decision-making process, peoples thinking and behaving strategy has been utilised to select Hong Kong and Australia as prioritized countries. Even though, there are still some aspects that need to be discussed and analysed such as marketing (strategy alliance, acquisition, franchise, etc. models and mix), investment and production strategy and models, etc., the decision of the team has been recommended to the board.

References Carruthers, H. (2009), Using PEST Analysis to improve business performance, In Practice, 31(1), pp. 37-39 Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (2010), PESTEL Analysis, [online] CIPD, Available from http://www.cipd.co.uk/hrresources/factsheets/pestle-analysis.aspx [Accessed 23 April 2012] Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (2011), SWOT Analysis, [online] CIPD, Available from http://www.cipd.co.uk/hrresources/factsheets/swot-analysis.aspx [Accessed 24 April 2012] De Bono, E. (1999), Six Thinking Hats, Revised and Updated Edition, London: Penguin Porter, M.E, (2004), Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analysing Industries and Competitors, London: Free Press